McKayla Maroney Says She Was Under 18 When Nude Photos Were Taken

McKayla Maroney was put in a difficult situation over the weekend. Not only was her privacy violated when photos of her were leaked to the internet, but it turns out that the photos were also taken while she was under 18. The US gymnast initially denied the photos were her and within a short time after that more photos of her were released which she still denied were her. Then, yesterday, her lawyers sent off a bunch of letters to different websites, beginning with Reddit and said the photos of McKayla were taken when she was under 18 which would make them child pornography. The difficult situation for McKayla is that first of all I'm guessing she probably told her parents the pictures were fake and continued to stand by that story. When the additional photos were released that story probably did not hold up any longer and she told them the truth. Her second problem is that if she was under age when the photos were taken and she sent the to someone, then she would be guilty of distributing child pornography and the person who received them would be guilty of possessing child pornography because that person would presumably be aware that McKayla was under the age of 18. Even if McKayla didn't send the photos anywhere and even though they are of her own body, she could still potentially be prosecuted for possession of child pornography.

You might be saying to yourself that she won't be prosecuted for sending selfies but there are several states that have punished underage high school students for sending naked selfies of themselves and have especially cracked down when the recipient then forwarded the photos. Just last month a 17 year old teen was arrested in MD after he sent naked selfies that he had been forwarded by classmates he was dating in high school. As for all the people that downloaded the photos of McKayla, nothing will happen to them if they remove the photos because they didn't know she was under 18.

“She takes a picture of herself, exposing herself, whether its her breasts or genitals, she just produced child pornography because it is sexually explicit material depicting someone under the age of 18. She then sends it to her boyfriend, she’s now distributed child pornography. In addition to producing and distributing it she posses it because you have to have it before you can send it to someone and after you make it you posses it. So, right there in Virginia that’s three different felonies that she committed by taking that one picture and sending it to her boyfriend.”

If the boyfriend asked for the picture, he solicited child pornography and he is also in possession of it. Those, again, are felonies that can be compounded even further.

What if you, her friend, get the pics and send them to her mother out of concern? Felony child porn distribution caught up in the web of the rest of it.

I had no idea this was a thing. Hopefully she only sent them when she was still under 18 and won't actually get charged as an adult.

The person that hacked the account guessed at their passwords. I don't have a single password that anyone could guess. Everyone needs to take a look at their passwords and make sure they aren't easy for someone else to figure out.

Ay, I thought the SAME thing, especially after reading Seven's quoted post.

I wonder if these laws will remain the same as technology expands, i.e., will the harsh penalties be reduced if it's a case of a teenage couple in a relationship rather than the photos being sent to strangers, whether in exchange for money or not? Sort of like the way statutory rape severity depends on the amount of years between the two people? Then of course, laws also vary from state to state, which can become even more confusing.

(I originally wrote "stiff penalties" rather than "harsh penalties," but I thought that might be in poor taste given the subject matter. Oof.)

@VirgilHilts AOC & CP Have 2 completely different set of laws. Yes under the AOC laws you can have sex with a 16yr old BUT if you take or receive pictures of them naked you can get nabbed under the CP laws.

Seven, I get it. Let's stop young girls and boys from posting potentially sensitive pictures. But this is truly ridiculous. If I sat on that jury they would HATE me if they were the prosecutors. I can't even begin to argue the convoluted mess of that law.

This hits home pretty hard for us right now. My son and his gf were sending pics to each other. Gf's mok found them and planned on having the kids arrested primarily her daughter.

We called a lawyer and thank goodness illinois has passed laws changing penalties and prosecution for minors in these cases. They haven't perfected it but at least here it isn't as bad as some places. The lawyer ee found is an expert in the area and thank goodness the cops never came and we really didn't need him. Judges, cops, and the da here are looking at these on a casr by case basis now. As long as the recipient doesn't forward that picture they tend to let them go with a stern warning.

This poor girl's case just sucks. I mean it is embarrassing to admit these things to parents but to have to do so in such a way. I feel for her like feel for my son's now ex gf. Her parents never really talked to her about valuing herself enough anf building self confidence they just shamed her. Ok im rambling now gonna shut up

Let me preface by saying that I disapprove of stealing people's personal data. Especially private photos and messages. That said, if I were her advisor, I'd tell her the fastest way to slow their distribution on the Internet would be to immediately claim she was under-age when they were taken. Maybe she was, maybe she wasn't, but it's clearly the best tactic.

@JessicaThank you for sharing that, Jessica. It's invaluable to be able to put a human face to an issue. Question from a Brit: are under-18s considered children (in this context) in every U.S. state? Surely, that can't be the age of consent, though? I could google this, but…

The last photo that was released she was probably underage for. Since it came well past the first wave and when nothing else was being leaked, aside from the self leaked pics of the AI chick, I am guessing that the last pic of Maroney was self leaked, as an excuse to get them all taken down.

Problem is so many people got the pics from Imgur albums and Imgur wipes exif data on photos. I would like to see the people w/ the raw photos post the exif data.

If she was in fact U/A, I hope she is brought up on charges of Producing Child Porn. Maybe jail time for a high profile bimbo would deter other underage bims from taking and sending nude pics. Having a son who will be in middle school in a few years, I worry about him getting into trouble because of lil sluts trying to get their claws into him by plying him with illegal nudes.

Surely if anyone is convicted of anything, she would be open to civil litigation.

Also, some porn site is refusing to take down the JLaw pics, saying they don't believe she owns the copyright. She would own the copyright to any selfies, but not to any pics taken by another person. The porn site says they will not remove the pics until the other person is identified and serves them w/ a DMCA letter.

P.S. McKayla is wearing bra and panties in the shot of her ass, so there should be no problem holding onto that one.

@Presto: Yesterday Justice indirectly copped to the pics being her, when she said something along the lines of "I'm taking legal action to protect my rights." Seems when the story first broke, she blew it off thinking the pics were some of the photoshops that regularly get done of celebs.

@Topper: Technically ignorance is not an absolution in CP or Statutory Rape, but the prosecutor will not likely bother with with pressing charges for 2 pics that happened to be in a file of 300 legal ones.

I just find it so odd that young girls are so eager to pose naked these days. When I was this age me and my friends, my teenage sister, her friends, etc. would have all been horribly embarrassed and disgusted at the idea of taking pictures of ourselves naked or even topless. This was in the mid-late 1990s which doesn't seem so long ago but obviously is.

Not blaming McKayla for being hacked here, just pondering how things changed so fast.

@Jessica: A fiend of mine had a similar situation w/ her high school age son. Some chick texted him nudes, her mom found them on her phone and the police showed up.

They were there to arrest my friend's son for possessing CP. His mom grabbed the phone from the cop's hand, scrolled to read and said, "He never asked for these pictures. If you arrest him, my lawyer will be at the prosecutor's office first thing in the morning to demand she gets charged for producing and distributing kiddie porn." Officer spent the next 20 minutes in his car, talking on the radio to superiors, before handing her the phone and saying, "Please delete the pictures." Then he turned and left.

@KrissieIt's become the new normal. They've grown up watching internet porn and seeing explicit images of celebrities online and they think it's part and parcel of being a sexual being. There's also a lot of peer pressure.I'm not a parent, so I'm in no position to judge those who are, but I agree with @Jessica that too many young girls lack self-esteem.

@Yoj: 18 is when you are considered an adult in the US by for the most part. The age of consent varies from state to state. Most states have it as 16 & 17 with a handful at 18. Keep in mind that age of consent is when the law deems you mature enough to agree to have sex. This does not cover any nude pics or videos as they would be considered pornography & there are very strict federal laws against producing, distributing or owning child porn. Because it is a federal law the age of the person being photographed or recorded must be no younger than 18.

@Yoj: I think Haywood is a dude, so I wouldn't want to see his waxed mud flume.

@Haywood: Currently, I am only allowed to practice Fake Internet Lawyering. Once I save up $499.99, I am considering getting a diploma mill JD then taking a stab at passing a bar somewhere. If that moron JFK Jr could pass on his 3rd or 4th try, I should get it done on my 2nd try.

I would like to focus my practice on areas that would benefit women. Immigration, Prostitution Legalization, Personal Services Contracts, Porn Copyrights, and Marijuana Law.

My goal is to be at the forefront of the Estrogen Revolution. Roe v Wade gave women the right to do what they want with their wombs, and I would like to force the US Government to acknowledge women's God given right to do what they want with their mouths, vaginas and anuses, including renting them by the hour.

Anti-Prostie laws are nothing but a tool of the patriarchy trying to keep women dependent on men. Lets be honest, in the modern world, the only reason to restrict a woman's ability to monetize her natural resources is to force them to subjugate their independence by compelling them into long term relationships with men, in exchange for housing and sustenance.

It is no coincidence that Sex Work is the only industry where women are not subjected to the patriarchy's "70cents on the dollar" ceiling and it is hidden in the dark corners of society. I plan to work tirelessly to bring it into the light, showing how ignorant it is to make criminals of these women, or to slut shame them, when they are just trying to get through school without having to submit to debt bondage, or so they can care for a family that a pair of testicles ran out on.

My own debt bondage is making this a slow process. Do you think a Kickstarter for a diploma mill doctorate would go over well? If I get the doctorate, then I'm gonna send in the $20 and get ordained, so everyone will have to refer to me as Rev. Dr. If you want a movement to have any legs, a Rev. Dr. leading the way is a must.

If you don't prosecute and try to end the practice, then you are opening the floodgates for the legality of self made kiddie porn. If that happens, you know damn well there will be lil bims selling photo sets online so they can start shopping at Nordstrom's instead of Target.

I'm not saying they should get full boat felonies and have to register as sex offenders, but they need to set up some statutes w/ punishments that fit the crime. X hours of community service. Can't get your driver's license until you turn 18 instead of 17. Something needs to deter these lil skanks.

1) Yeah, I have a problem w/ making troll arguments that are too reasonable and bullet proof. It is hard dumbing my self down, so I leave holes open big enough to be attacked.

2) No, I can't ID that. I contacted EdibleAnus.com to ask if the model was male or female. The gave me the bullshit answer of "Both" when it was obvious there was only one balloon knot used. I passed on making a purchase. If I knew the anus was a chick, I totally would have bought some chocolate anuses and maybe a sterling silver one, as a conversation piece.

1) It sucks that anybody's sexy/private phone pics get hacked. i have a few myself (without my face or tattoo involved, i'm careful) – and would hate to have that out to the public. BUT i'm not a star in the public eye, so…yeah.

2) She's a 16/17/18 year old girl, and those girls aren't cognizant of what the f**k they do, because they are still too young but HORNY AS HELL, and want IT. YES, They DO.

3) Does anyone else but a few of us know that MD stands for Maryland?

4) I don't ever post pics to a place that i have no control of. No mas. Unless I'm someone that doesn't care who sees it because it's up there for all to upload with the right know-how.

@Yoj: Nationality/Race/Cuisine all factor in. I once questioned a world traveling whoremonger about it, and he noted that the Thai, with their spicy cuisine, have spicy flavored anuses.

I think the full penetration of food franchises have probably adorned the residents of all 50 states with similar flavors, save for pockets of ethnicity and possible economic factors. Likely you could run the gamut in a metropolitan area such as NYC, saving yourself considerable expense in travel and accommodations.

@Count JerkulaWell, now that you mention it, um…yes, I suspected as much…or rather, it has been commented upon. Well, not that particular act, because I haven't, er… Anyway, my being a vegan you see, I eat a lot of fresh fruit and well…apparently, it shows.

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